


where the road goes (we follow)

by TINKERMINS



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: ... and that, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Bad Writing, Don't Read This, How Do I Tag, M/M, Negan Being Negan (Walking Dead), There's A Tag For That, but literally nothing happens, enjoy...?, nothing happens, tired Rick Grimes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-25
Updated: 2019-03-25
Packaged: 2019-12-07 09:30:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18233048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TINKERMINS/pseuds/TINKERMINS
Summary: Rick Grimes just wants a break from it all, feeling his time is up.Negan just wants a world with Rick, so what other choice does he have?





	where the road goes (we follow)

After the Whisperer war, he decided he could go on no more. He wasn’t needed like he was before. Not that the thought brought bitterness to his palette, but rather a sense of pride. They were getting stronger, and he was tired. They say he had brought them to where they were; the ground that they laid upon would be nothing but dirt without him. But none of that was true, they made this place together, they found a home within each other. And now he had to move on.

He didn’t intend to pack much, just a week or so worth of food and water, a couple of blankets for the road, and a few other little things. He planned on taking a patrol shift after dusk, that way he could leave as peacefully as possible, he hoped at least.

It wasn’t long before the sun hid amongst the trees and the moonlight ripped through the clouds. Rick managed to borrow a few metres of rope in order to climb over the other side of the wall. In all honesty, he could admit he was slightly rough around the edges, movements albeit rigid and a couple of slip-ups every so often. He would’ve sworn he could hear Carl snort, commenting on how the walkers would be able to hear his bones creaking. His chest ached and a smile that never reached his eyes dawned on his face.

Rick was now a good enough distance away from Alexandria, confident that no one currently on patrol would spot him within the abundance of trees. He faced the standing community, stood there and couldn’t help but give a small smile. He would miss his family, but he had to go. There wasn’t anything there for him anymore.

“This is just the beginning.”

⟼

The cute, little house that he had recently settled in became somewhat of a home to the man. It was a delightful coincidence as well due to the house having a picket fence and being situated in a nice clearing. Negan certainly had to have done something right to stumble upon something so divine, it put little him to shame. His only visitors were a couple of walkers which kept him busy nonetheless, but most days consisted of tending to his newly, flourishing garden. To entertain himself, he would flaunt his harvest at the dead, snickering as they weakly stumbled their way towards him. The stupid fucks didn’t know shit and that had ultimately led them to fall smack on the ground with a gash in their head.

Today was one of those days where Negan needed a bit of socialising, figured he’d try chatting up a corpse and see where it gets him. He was heading towards the edge of the clearing when he had heard horse hooves digging up the dirt. He cursed and hoped it wasn’t a greedy foal who wanted to steal his ripe tomatoes. The man turned towards the noise and a wicked smile glazed his face as he saw the lovely samurai head his way. Although, she didn’t seem quite as happy to see him. In fact, she looked all too serious and if Negan didn’t know any better he’d have thought she came here to slice n dice him.

“Negan,” it was a curt greeting, but Negan would be able to fix that.

“Miss me that much? Although I’m not one to complain, I don’t mind a little company for the night,” he smirked and did a quick gesture with his fingers, showing Michonne he could offer her a great deal.

She didn’t find amusement in his antiques and decided to outright ignore him, taking a deep breath, she figured getting straight to it would do best. “Where is he?”

Negan quirked his eyebrow and let out an exasperated sigh, “where the fuck is who? You really think I’ve seen anybody that ain’t rotten and could use a nice knock on their head? Didn’t fucking think so. And here I thought you came around to get a taste of little Negan but sue me, doesn’t seem like that’s happening just yet.”

The woman seemed distraught by what little information Negan had given her, and it looked as if his flirtations had gone over her head. Next time he’d make sure that he saves them for someone who would at the very least have a reaction. Ignoring his disappointment, he took in Michonne’s reaction and it created a slight uneasiness to settle at the pit of his stomach. He couldn’t shake off the feeling that he knew who went missing or, may very well be added to the large collection of walkers, and the thought made him sick.

“Well don’t leave my giant sack hanging, who the fuck was stupid enough to go missing?”

Michonne clenched her jaw and looked at the clouds, letting the faint walker growls take part in the conversation before speaking. Negan could see the slight tremble of her hands and he clenched his fists, “No one’s missing, never was. I was wrong.”

Negan’s eyebrows furrowed in both confusion and frustration. Can’t she say a goddamn name already? He stared at her, not willing to let her leave without a proper explanation as to why she even came in the first place. Why the ever-loving fuck _she_ came and not someone else he’d much rather prefer.

She sighed and got off her horse, opening the satchel that was attached to the beauty’s saddle and took out a crumpled piece of paper. With slight hesitation she gave it to Negan while he stood, unsure of what to make of the situation. The woman jumped back on her horse and looked at him one last time, her eyes were glossed over and if he felt sick before he now felt like a rotting corpse that had its guts exposed. “Rick ran away. Couple days ago. The note was the last thing we found, thought it was a trick, until now that is. Just because he’s gone doesn’t mean you get to start shit up again, we’re still watching you.”

With that, Michonne left him standing in the middle of the field, by now the sun had begun to set, leaving an orange tint in its place. The man stood there for a while, the thought of Rick just leaving, willingly at that, left an odd taste in his mouth. He swallowed and started heading to his house, opening the letter simultaneously and began to read it.

By the time he had laid down on his makeshift mattress, a stupid smile was plastered on Negan’s face as he lightly chuckled, “Rick fucking Grimes, you pretty son of a bitch. You ain’t getting rid of me that easily, just you wait for me cowboy.”

**Author's Note:**

> um if you made it this far congratulations. i was going somewhere with this then i got lazy. so that's that. but yeah feedback is greatly appreciated and thank you for your time!


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